The second Fox animated series from Seth MacFarlane is structurally a clone of his first, Family Guy, which bombed until it found an audience on DVD and was revived. American Dad! is essentially a family sitcom revolving around an imbecilic father, his spacey wife, a couple of kids, and two non-biological additions—a resident alien (from space, not across the border) and a goldfish that talks with a German accent. Stan, the paterfamilias, is a boneheaded right-winger who works for the CIA, while daughter Hayley is a liberal tree-hugger, setting up lots of arguments (a device used earlier and better in shows ranging from All in the Family to Family Ties). As with Family Guy, the visual style is rudimentary, and the writing prefers gag quantity to quality and mistakes sophomoric for edgy. It's not enough to show your anti-PC credentials by joking about subjects like fights between homeless guys or Saudi attitudes toward Americans—you have to find something to say that isn't simply either crass or puerile, and that's what American Dad! signally fails to do. The title character, moreover, isn't merely a dolt, he's a singularly unlikable dolt. This set includes the 13 episodes of the 2005 first season, along with a host of bonus features—audio commentaries on 12 of the episodes, a “making-of” featurette, another on “American Animatics,” an introduction to the voice talent, and a bunch of unused sequences. But this is a hit-and-miss comedy that rarely finds its target, and should be of little interest to anyone other than die-hard MacFarlane fans. Not recommended. (F. Swietek)
American Dad! Volume One
Fox, 3 discs, 284 min., not rated, DVD: $39.98 Volume 21, Issue 4
American Dad! Volume One
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